Judge Claude Frollo
Judge Claude Frollo was the primary antagonist in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" voiced by stage veteran Tony Jay who also voiced Shere Khan when George Sanders died. The ultimate authority figure, Frollo rules Paris with a cruel hand. He seeks to destroy the Gypsies and all that is evil, despite that he has been corrupted by his own doing. He serves as the reluctant and repressive guardian of Quasimodo. Quasimodo called Frollo, "Master". An unusual Disney villain in that he seeks neither wealth nor power (because he already possesses both), Frollo has a rare sophistication, which he expects would help him gain the affections of a certain beautiful Gypsy woman. But later on, his obsession for control will prove to be his defeat. Like many Disney Villains, Frollo exhibits a Deadly Sin, his being Lust given his lust for Esmeralda. Place In UltimateDisney.com's countdown for top 30 Disney villains, he was villain #10 (better then Gaston but less then Lady Tremaine). The Nostalgia Critic placed Frollo in fourth place of his "Top 11 Disney Villains" list. Character History Judge Claude Frollo resides in Paris, France, where he is employed as a court judge. A deeply religious man, Frollo uses his position to inflict great suffering upon the gypsy population, believing them to "live outside the natural order" and engage in "heathen" behavior. One night, a group of gypsies attempt to enter Paris, only to be stopped by Frollo and his soldiers. When one of the gypsy women attempts to flee, Frollo pursues and eventually kills her on the steps of Notre Dame, only to realize she was the mother of a hideously deformed infant child. Frollo attempts to murder the infant but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who convinces him that, in order to save his soul from eternal damnation, Frollo must raise the child as his own son. Naming the child Quasimodo (which means "half-formed"), Frollo raises him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the human world. For all Frollo's strict discipline and religious guidance, Quasimodo remains an optimistic, free-spirited child over the next twenty years. During this time, Frollo has continued to gain power within the city, imprisoning, torturing and killing gypsies while convincing the public of their "evil" behavior. Prior to attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo encounters Captain Phoebus, a well-meaning soldier who is assigned the task of locating the infamous Court of Miracles, which the gypsies have taken as their official hiding place. While attending the festival, Frollo discovers a gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who simultaneously attracts and disgusts Frollo with her beauty; shortly afterwards, Quasimodo is revealed to have fled the tower and joined the festivities, only to be crowned the King of Fools and publicly humiliated. As the townspeople mock Quasimodo, Frollo refuses to help and is disgusted when a defiant Esmeralda assists him instead. Esmeralda then ridicules and humiliates Frollo before escaping into Notre Dame, while a furious Frollo silently scolds Quasimodo. Esmeralda claims sanctuary within the cathedral, although Frollo remains watchful of her behavior. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction for Esmeralda, believing a relationship with a gypsy will result in his eternal damnation (which he expresses in "Hellfire"). In this scene it becomes clear that Frollo is losing his mind as he struggles with his concepts of good and evil and his desire for Esmeralda. During the song he suffers from violent hallucinations, eventually passing out. Unbeknownst to Frollo, Quasimodo has allowed Esmeralda to escape from the cathedral. Upon learning of Esmeralda's escape, Frollo is enraged and begins a ruthless campaign to "find the gypsy girl". He later attempts to murder an innocent family whom he suspects of collaborating with gypsies, but an appalled Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but he is eventually rescued by Esmeralda. Realizing Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will soon be attacked; a misled Quasimodo follows Phoebus to the Court where Frollo's army attacks and arrests the gypsies. Frollo then sentences her to execution while Quasimodo remains locked in the bell tower. He offers to save her, revealing to her she must chose him or the fire. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress and is prepared to burn to death, but Quasimodo escapes, rescues her and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo's men then attack Notre Dame, engaging in a violent battle against the townspeople and Quasimodo, who sends stones from the tower and eventually fills the street with molten lead. After defying the Archdeacon and flinging him down a flight of stairs, Frollo attempts to murder Quasimodo (in a scene reminiscent of the shower scene from Psycho), ensuing in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers the deranged judge and informs him that because of all the lies Frollo has told him, he knows that the only thing dark about the world is people like him. Esmeralda awakens, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Frollo chases him and Esmeralda onto a balcony overlooking the city, engaging in yet another fight with Quasimodo. He then admits he should have seen Quasimodo's behavior coming and confesses to Quasimodo that his mother did not abandon him and that he never saved his life, but rather that he killed his mother, who was trying to save him, and was originally planning to kill Quasimodo as well. With that, he declared he would now carry out his original plan and kill him, by throwing him over the edge of the balcony. Quasimodo manages to hold on and pulls Frollo along with him, and Frollo dangles momentarily for his life, but he is soon able to climb on a statue in perfect position to kill them. Frollo laughs maniacally and shouts "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into a fiery pit" but as he raises his sword the demonic gargoyle he is standing on starts to break beneath his feet, causing him to loose his balance. Frollo grabs onto the gargoyle for dear life and the figurehead appears come to life and snarl at him, glowing with fiery eyes. The gargoyle crumbles off the cathedral and Frollo, in irony, falls screaming into a sea of molten lead and is killed. His soul is then trapped in eternal damnation in Hell for all eternity. Personality While the character of Frollo was a much more sympathetic and complicated man in the original novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in the Disney version he is portrayed as a self-righteous, ruthless, vicious, immoral, unscrupulous, insensitive, brutal, muderous, merciless, sadistic, corrupt, megalomainiacal, sneaky, predjuice, manipulative, sly, dishonest, cold hearted, delusional, narssistic, snobbish, unfreindly, calculating, abusive, manipulative, sinister, diabolical, pure evil, deranged, dirty, selfish, heartless, cruel, crooked, wicked, nasty, malicious, extroadinarily pitiless and arrogant sociopath and according to Clopin, he sees corruption everywhere, and believes that he is making the world a better place through his actions. In the original novel, he was the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, but in the film, he is a Judge so as not to portray the Church in a negative light, although his religious hypocrisy, bigotry, and lust remain quite mature for a G-rated Disney film. His song, Hellfire, whilst being regarded as one of the greatest Disney v illain songs of all time, garnered viewer complaints given the overt satanic nature of the song. Frollo to this day is considered one of Disney's best and most frightening villains. Frollo, in the film, is symbolic of religious hypocrisy and possibly religious fanaticism, which have also been enduring themes in the novel. As a man of strong medieval Catholic faith, Frollo uses his position as judge to inflict great suffering upon the gypsy population, believing them to "live outside the natural order" and engage in "heathen" behavior. Through believing his work is for God is what makes him a hated villain. Frollo is especially uncaring to animals, when he used an ant nest underneath the railings on Gypsies in the Court of Miracles, and is blind to understand the mysteries of the world, when he underestimates the gargoyles as being alive until he sees one come to life in irony just as he plummets to his death near the end of the film. Quotes *"You! Gypsy girl! Get down at once!" *"How dare you defy me!" *"Don't waste your arrows! Let the traitor rot in his watery grave! Find the girl! If you have to burn down the city to the ground, so be it!" *"And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!" The Kingdom Keepers Frollo is going to appear in the fourth book of the Kingdom Keepers, Power Play. In the book he is the new leader of the overtakes replacing Maleficent and Chernabog as they were captured. The book is to be released on April 5 2011. On the cover, he is seen having pointing at Willa, a DHI, or Disney Host Interactive, while she runs with a scared face (the DHI's are the protagonists of the book). Trivia *Nostalgia Critic placed Frollo at fourth place in his top 11 Disney animated villains and "Hellfire" first place in his Top 11 Villains Songs. *Some people think he is the unseen hunter in the 1942 film, Bambi. *Frollo is a unique Disney Villain for several reasons. He seeks neither wealth nor power; the traditional vices that most disney villians seek. Instead he wishes to make Esmeralda his mistress and wipe out the Gypsies. He lacks supernatural powers, making him more sinster, because he stills causes a great amount of chaos and evil without them, while using religion as his reasons for his unethical ways of bringing "justice". *Frollo's physical appearence and mannerisms are similar to those of Vincent Price, who did the voices of The Toon Patrol in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. *Frollo was the final Disney villain of the "Disney Renaissance" to have his own song, and the last one overall until Alameda Slim in Home on the Range nearly a decade later, and then later on, Doctor Facilier in The Princess and the Frog. 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